


Black ops

by kpdiddy



Series: a GATEway to the void [1]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Game), ゲート 自衛隊彼の地にて斯く戦えり - 竿尾悟 | Gate: Jietai Kanochi nite Kaku Tatakaeri - Sao Satoru (Manga)
Genre: Crossover, Gen, I didn’t plan this out at all and just developed the story as I wrote it, Manny generic/non-specific imperials mentioned, Semi-descriptive violence, Some headcanon involved, This was supposed to just be one quick chapter, kidnapping implications, minor AU elements aside from the crossover itself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-31 13:01:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17849933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kpdiddy/pseuds/kpdiddy
Summary: Following a string of mysterious and targeted murders in the capital, one Saderan resolves to solve the mystery and bring the perpetrator to light.He quickly finds himself in very far over his head.





	1. The Dark brotherhood

**Author's Note:**

> Hey thanks for clicking! You should know that while knowledge of both GATE and Hollow Knight help to make sense of this fic, it’s largely based upon the premise of a different fic, so reading that first will help too!  
> Find it below and feel free to join the thread’s discussion, we’re always glad to see new faces, and tell ‘em I sent you there!
> 
> https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/thus-the-remnants-went-forth-gate-hollow-knight.696295/

Dead (lethal stab wound), dead (charred, with unusual white and black particles found nearby), presumed dead, missing, dead (cut into many pieces), missing presumed dead, missing, missing, dead (unusual dagger lodged firmly in head), and missing.

 

That is what the status report on ten different imperial senators and high-ranking military officers read as. Having just updated senator Irdwell’s entry, the bookkeeper-turned investigator sighed.

 

‘How do they keep getting away with this?’ He thought, ‘each one was more protected than the last, and yet they even manage to spirit away not only political higher-ups, but also legion commanders too, all without anyone knowing what they might even look like! It’s as if the missing imperials were simply plucked out of existence, as if by the gods themselves!’

 

Many would have likely believed such an explanation too, were it not for a common thread found in relation to each and every missing person. At each discovered corpse or somewhere around their last known location, an almost impossibly black artifact of some description was found. It had to be some sort of taunt on the part of this mysterious adversary, mocking the imperial investigators and guardsmen alike for their failure at discovering or stopping the yet unknown saboteur.

 

What confused the bookkeeper more was when it changed. The recovered “dark idols” as they had come to be known as, hadn’t actually changed at all, but instead, different, yet obviously related ones began replacing the non-verbal taunts found in relation to more missing people.

 

At first the idols were fairly simple in design, with a smooth, vaguely ovular main part with 4 protrusions similar to two pairs of curved horns near the top. That changed after the fifth incident was discovered. The strange relic was different this time, while still retaining the almost light consuming blackness that revealed its relation to the previous crimes, it now bore a much different design, with many thinner pieces curving to point (not at all unlike the hilt of a sword) and an equally dark orb situated on top.

 

Eventually the ninth and tenth incidents had occurred, and this time the idol had changed yet again, to a far more foreboding design combining the centralized section plus curving horn-like parts of the first, with the ample amount of sharp points of the second. The keeper found the ninth rather odd at first, not putting two and two together that the intricate design on the pommel of the offending weapon was in fact, a new design of the dark idol, only realizing the connection upon a non-bladed version being discovered at the scene of the tenth incident.

 

Recovering from his brief loss of focus, the bookkeeper returned to his work. He knew that he and the other investigators were close, the mysterious assailant was getting sloppy in light of upped security around the various people of power as of late. The ninth incident was discovered fresh, as the victim appeared to have put up a fight based on the state of the room, extremely disorderly, and with the unusual black and white particles of the second incident found again but in much greater prominence. The offender must’ve slipped out in the ensuing commotion once the scuffle was heard, although the fact that there was a scuffle at all and not a silent kill was progress in and of itself. The tenth and most recent incident was different though, as not only did it occur in public, but the bookkeeper was able to partially witness it himself. But what scared him most was that he now knew just what he was up against.

 

Why someone of such importance as to be targeted by the shadowy killer was in the lower districts at all was beyond him, but that wasn’t important. All that mattered is that someone of obvious import was there, right next to an alleyway, and then they weren’t. Rushing to the alley to investigate, the keeper found no one there aside from the darkness of the alley staring back at him. Then there had been a sound, best described as a “whooshing” kind of sound from behind a wooden box situated near the end of the alley. Moving forward to investigate and hopefully catch the killer in the act, the whooshing became clearer, almost to the point of being discernable as speech. 

 

As he nearly arrived at the crate, the wispy sounds finally became clear enough to understand and he froze.

 

_[... ten]_

_[query: timing and location]_

_[response: person of interest not presently guarded, window of opportunity short]_

_[query: witnesses]_

_[plan of action: teleport]_

 

It was around this time where the bookkeeper recovered his senses long enough to finish approaching the box. The keeper wasn’t sure what he expected to find behind the box, but he was certain what he found was not that.

 

In the gloom, all that was visible was the three sets of small yet very wide eerie, glowing, white eyes staring back at him. Two quickly faded away, almost appearing to panic despite the complete lack of expressiveness in a simple pair of eyes. The third held his gaze however. It was entirely impossible to make out any part of whatever stood before him in the low light besides what was presumably the eyes, yet neither he nor whatever it was that he had confronted relented in their impromptu stare-off. When the bookkeepers own eyes finally adjusted to the darkness a few seconds later, what he saw before him was even more perplexing. The entity before him was small, only around half his size, and not counting the aforementioned glowing white eyes, was completely black, bearing the likeness of what he assumed a living shadow to have looked like, but shorter, seeming to lack legs, and with horns not at all unlike those of the dark idols situated on its head(?).

 

Slowly, the shadow then moved its arm, seeming to reach inside itself (despite the impossibility of such an action), before producing another dark idol, matching the one on the dagger of the previous incident.

 

_[ten…]_

 

Dropping the object, it then looked back up at the bookkeeper, and then blinked out of existence. its form appearing to blur for a moment before vacating the area it previously inhabited entirely.

 

That brought the bookkeeper back to the present. Pouring over the incident reports, as well as his own sighting of the otherworldly killer in an attempt to figure out what to do to stop these killings. Something had to be done before one of the imperial family, or even the emperor himself was decided to be the next target, someone had to stop this group of shadow demons before—

 

_[eleven…]_

 

“Huh?”

 

And then everything went to hell.

 

One of the living shadows from before popped up right in front of his face, startling the bookkeeper backwards and causing his chair to fall over, leaving him on his back. Before he could react to either of the two preceding sudden events, or even scream out in surprise, the other two of the shadows leapt up upon him, one stuffing his mouth with some large shiny object to prevent him from calling out, the other appearing to focus briefly before its arms extended into two dark, thrashing tendrils of darkness. Struggling against the shadow holding his head down and gag in place to no avail, he watched on in abject horror as the tendrils proceeded to wrap him up by the torso, completely sealing off his movements before covering his mouth as well.

 

‘No, no no nonononono, this can’t be happening!’ His mind was racing, trying to think of anything he could do, reason, bargain, struggle, anything?! Almost seeming to react to his thoughts, despite not yet struggling or attempting to make noise, the shadows looked him over, faces completely unreadable.

 

_[...]_

 

The first shadow, the one that had startled him over spoke in that unnatural, wispy manner after a brief silence.

 

_[query: appearance of target]_

_[...]_

_[supposition: captive not target]_

 

At this the other two shade creatures looked to their comrade, then back at him, repeating this a few times before the second one, the one that had initially gagged the bookkeeper, “spoke.”

 

_[affirmation]_

_[continuation: query: fate of captive]_

 

‘Just let me go, let me go, letmegoletmegoletmego!’

 

_[dilemma: cannot simply free captive, yet big sister would disapprove of terminating captive]_

 

Based on the direction the sound came from, the keeper could tell that the one currently binding him had said that. He sincerely hoped that they would just chose the former option and move on to whoever this “target” was. He was also **extremely** grateful for this “big sister’s” views on life.

 

_[possible solution: consult big sister]_

 

‘Oh no’

 

_[concurrence]_

_[.......concurrence]_

 

**_‘Oh no’_ **

 

And then everything blurred, and went black.


	2. Behind the battle lines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somewhere far from home, the story continues and our unfortunate Saderan meets some less than jolly people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeahhhhhh, this story was originally supposed to just about the first two thirds of the first chapter, but here we are, with an entire second chapter that's even longer than what the first chapter ended up being. But hey, who doesn't like more content? Read on to take a different character's perspective and see the resolution!

_[Big Sister! Selves have query!]_  
  
  
“Oh, sure what is i-  _what._ ”  
  
  
Although they occasionally bordered at annoyingly persistent, Hornet was typically fine with answering the questions of the ever-curious siblings. This particular situation however, necessitated that she be the one asking questions instead, far more angrily at that.  
  
  
Two siblings had just rounded a corner behind her, and while she was turning around to face them, a third had come, carrying a human over themselves by way of a pair of long void tendrils in place of its arms.  
  
  
 _[Big Sister, selves are unsure of what to do with captive]  
  
  
‘ **What’**_  
  
  
Quickly regaining her usual stoic composure, Hornet moved forward to the leading sibling which had just gestured to its companion restraining a surprisingly calm (relatively speaking, “calm” only amounted to not actively struggling nor screaming) human. She’d have to break out big sister mode for this.  
  
  
“Alright, first off you’re going to tell me who it was who told you it was ok to wander far enough away to have met a human. Second, you’re going to tell me exactly why you brought one here.”  
  
  
The first sibling seemed taken aback at this, but the second quickly chimed in.  
  
  
 _[selves are helping big brother fight!]  
  
  
[selves are terminating important humans sneakily!]  
  
  
[selves are “notorious assassins” according to humans!]_  The sibling said that last part with an unnerving amount of enthusiasm, emphasizing the “notorious” part with the same two quick curlings of their forelimbs that Knight had adopted use of recently as “air quotes.”  
  
  
Just as the second sibling finished what it had to say, the third jumped in as well.  
  
  
 _[selves even have “calling card” to taunt human guards! Human guards not very good at guarding]_  
  
  
Reacting to what the third had said, the first sibling then reached inside itself and showed Hornet what appeared to be an exact copy of Knight’s void idol. According to what Lemm had told Hornet and Knight, those things were impossibly rare, practically one of a kind, how the hell had these three gotten enough to make it their calling card and still kill enough humans to be considered notorious?  
  
  
Hornet took the idol and quickly looked it over. Could be a replica, but figuring that out wasn’t really her forte. “We’ll talk about where you found this in a second. But since you decided not to actually answer the question I’ll ask again: Who said you could go that far away, and why did you bring a human here.”  
  
  
The siblings’ averted gazes and lack of response told her all she needed to know.  
  
  
“Did Knight say that it was ok?” It didn’t really matter if Knight said it was ok because going out that deep into enemy territory was absolutely not ok with her, she just needed to know if Knight needed a reality check on the power difference between himself and the siblings.  
  
  
The sibling holding up the human nodded in response, slowly being joined by the other two.  
  
  
Her expression softening somewhat, Hornet knelt down to the siblings’ eye level.  
  
  
“I know you all want to help, and I know you look up to Knight and I a lot. There’s nothing wrong with having aspirations or contributing to a group effort, but for your safety and my piece of mind, I can’t have you going out and doing something so dangerous.” standing back up, Hornet continued. “Everyone’s quite aware of how strong you are, and how often you develop some new crazy kind of magic.” At this the sibling binding the human beamed, as much as something made out of void could beam that is. “But you’re not nearly as durable as Knight or myself, and none of us want to see any of you get seriously hurt.”  
  
  
 _[but Big Sister how can selves help if selves are stuck in nest?]_  The three siblings moaned in unison.  
  
  
After thinking on it for a moment, Hornet answered. “I’ve got a challenge for you then, if you can find some way, whether through some new magic or otherwise, to consistently nullify one of my needle strikes, then I’ll give you the ok to help fight. Know that I’m not going to make it easy, and that even if you do I’m still not letting you be assassins, but you have my word as queen that I’ll let you help out.”  
  
  
It had been a  _long_  time since she’d ever seen any siblings with that starry eyed face before now, and she was glad for it, because that look usually meant more stupidity for her to sort out. This time she was glad though, if for no other reason than that the siblings’ crazy magic experiments would be directed at someone else instead of being her problem. Hornet silently patted herself on the back for coming up with that idea.  
  
  
Hornet only just barely pulled herself out of her own thoughts before the siblings rounded the corner they had initially come around, and she had to yell to get their attention.  
  
  
“Hold up! I’m not done yet, you’ve still got some more explaining to do.” Cooperating, the three siblings sulked back over.  
  
  
None of the participants of the previous exchange had paid attention to the human being carried by one of the siblings, the one carrying them even seeming to have forgotten they were doing so as well. After finally wiggling around a bit for the first time since his capture, Hornet took notice to them. “And for the love of whatever gods there still are around here that give a damn, set that thing down would you?”  
  
  
Finally acknowledging its captive, the sibling disengaged its spell and its tendril arms instantly returned to normal. This had the (likely intentional) side-effect of dropping the human to the ground with a thud flat on their back.  
  
  
“You can run if you feel like it, I won’t bother chasing you, but these three probably will, and I think you’re rather well acquainted with their abilities by now.” The human elected to pursue the smarter of the two options, staying where he was after he collected himself and got to his feet. He was in no condition to run anyways, obviously very frazzled and shivering from extended exposure to the void tendrils the sibling had conjured. They were lucky the sibling was as skilled with controlling the tendrils as they were, given how void objects typically interact with living ones (that is to say, quite destructively).  
  
  
Taking back out the void idol that one of siblings had gave her, Hornet resumed inquisition mode. “Explain where you got this and the others you’ve been apparently leaving all around the human’s cities”  
  
  
 _[selves have been making idols, not discovering them]  
  
  
[other sibling has replicated Big Brother’s void idol, but not same as Big Brother’s]  
  
  
[only looks same, does not have void inside like Big Brother’s]_  
  
  
So they were replicas then, huh, well that explained that. Good thing these three always built upon what the last had said otherwise Hornet would be here for hours trying to extract info out of them.  
  
  
“Ok then, last question, why is he here?” Hornet said, gesturing to the human.  
  
  
 _[selves captured wrong human]_  
  
  
[selves unsure of what to do with human]  
  
  
[selves decided to consult Big Sister]  
  
  
Exasperated, Hornet sighed before responding. “Of course you did. Well whatever, leave him with me and go get to work on that challenge, and remember, no new magic unless Shaman is around to moderate.”  
  
  
Neither Hornet nor the human spoke while the siblings cheerfully floated away, but when they were far enough away for Hornet to no longer here their cheerful whooshing, Hornet’s expression returned to its usual vaguely discontent look and she approached the human. Despite him being slightly taller than her, he was obviously intimidated, taking a half step back as she approached.  
  
“My name is Hornet, I’m the queen of Hallownest, the place your nation is trying to invade.” Said Hornet with a smile that did not stop the color from draining from the bookkeeper’s face at all. “Given our nation’s interactions so far, I should kill you where you stand, as I’m sure you’d also do if the tables were turned. But because you’ve been so respectful so far and because we’re not unreasonable people, I’ve got a proposition for you.” At this the human relaxed slightly before stiffening as Hornet pointed her needle at him. “Explain yourself and why your country is attacking us and I’ll have you on your side of the battle lines by the end of the day.” returning her needle to her back Hornet continued “Otherwise, I’ll leave you here, and you can find your own way back through the heart of enemy territory.”  
  
  
“Seems like an obvious enough choice, what do you need to know your highness?” was the first thing the bookkeeper had said since his run in with the three sibling hit-squad. Hornet quickly responded by saying “What led you to have a run in with those three.” “Well, I’m an imperial bookkeeper normally, and I was assigned to investigate the various incidents they caused in the capital.”  
  
  
‘The capital?! Those three have been fooling around in the human’s capital and getting away with it? Guess I’ll have to make extra sure those three don’t wander off again’ Hornet thought. The human continued. “You don’t seem like the kind to be easily flattered, but I must say those three are exceptionally good at what they do, I wasn’t the only one on alert looking for them, and they got away completely unseen with at least ten separate assassinations within the capital.” “Stay on topic” Growled Hornet. “Ah, yes yes.” the bookkeeper said somewhat meekly. “Well you heard it from them. They seemed to have mistaken me for whoever they were going after next, although who that might be is beyond me. As for why the empire is at war with you, that’s simply how the nation is led, conquest for land, resources, and slaves.” Hornet’s expression hardened at the mention of slaves and the bookkeeper quickly added “While I don’t personally subscribe to that use of other intelligent life, it is the common opinion of those in power within the empire.”  
  
  
“Well there goes peaceful negotiations I suppose” muttered Hornet “I take it your nation’s leaders would have us submit our lands to their rule if we wanted peace, correct?” “More than likely, yes” was the human’s response. “Well that isn’t going to happen, but good to have confirmation that it’s going to be war.” Said Hornet, continuing with “Well this has been quite the informative chat, and as someone of my word I’ll arrange for your transport back to the human side of the battle lines, just two more things.”  
  
  
Somewhat worried by the sudden extension of his stay, the bookkeeper responded. “Um… yes what is it?” “First: If I catch wind of you leaking anything you’ve learned here to our detriment, you’ll have something much more dangerous than those children to contend with.” The human seemed sufficiently intimidated by the threat, especially the description of the siblings as children, good. “Second, in the interest of helping you not know more about us than I can help, don’t take this personally.”  
  
  
In a flash of red the queen of Hallownest dashed behind the human, knocking him in the back of his head with the back of her needle and causing him to faceplant into the ground, most likely unconscious as a result of the two impacts.  
  
  
Hornet might’ve regretted the extra work it took to arrange a transport she could trust enough to not off an unconscious invader on the way to their destination, but she was pretty sure the satisfaction of smacking one of them around personally was worth it in the end. At least she had the piece of mind that those three siblings were now too distracted with her challenge to go wandering off and get into trouble, although said distraction could probably be considered getting into trouble as well. At the end of the day though, she still loved the siblings in spite of all their unusual quirks.

**Author's Note:**

> So uh yeah, this wasn’t originally supposed to be this long, but it ended up this long, with an even longer second part to boot, but it’s late for me right now, so expect the second part to show up sometime tomorrow.
> 
> Oh and in case anyone was wondering, the “large shiny gag” was a 10 geo coin


End file.
